


Reflections: Zelink Week 2017

by summerplaylist



Series: Fandom Weeks [4]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: 500 Word Drabbles, F/M, Zelink Week, zelink week 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-15 22:13:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9259724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summerplaylist/pseuds/summerplaylist





	1. The Beat of Your Heart

For the rest of his life, Link is sure that he will always associate gold with Zelda. Golden arrows that saved the world, golden light that shown from her piece of Triforce. Golden crowns and golden gowns—golden everything when it comes to someone like her.

“I hate him,” she says. “I really hate him.”

“I'm okay,” Link assures her. He tries to sit up but fails, his new (and rather tight) bandages keeping him from it. “There's no reason to hate him.”

“But he _hurt_ you!” Zelda's golden crown glints in the light. Everything about her is so golden and perfect and—

It must be the toxic mixture of pain medicine and actual pain that's making Link think this way. He's usually much better at keeping his thoughts contained.

Zelda touches his chest. And suddenly, Link can hear his own heartbeat. Usually when he's scared or nervous he can hear it and it drives him nearly insane. He usually hates it.

But because it's Zelda, because it's _her_ hand on _his_ chest, the sound of his own heartbeat doesn't seem so bad.

“You can't tell me who to hate,” Zelda says. “And I want to hate that stupid trainee for hurting you, so there.”

“He didn't mean to stab me in the stomach.” Link forces himself to laugh even though it hurts. “I should have done a better job training him before I gave him a sword to play with.”

Zelda drifts her hand down further, pressing down on his wound. Not enough to hurt, just enough for him to feel the pressure. If her hand drifted down any further…

“I've been through much worse,” Link says. But it sounds more like a squeak because Zelda's hand does the unthinkable—it drifts down further.

Her touch doesn't linger; she's quick to pull her hand away. Link can feel the heat in his cheeks. They're probably an unnatural shade of pink right now, and he knows Zelda well enough to know that she's enjoying every second of it. She's always loved to make him blush.

“I better get back to everyone,” Zelda says. She sounds bored, but Link knows better. “They'll be missing me. And I still need to punish that dumb kid…”

“Be easy on him,” Link says. He can hear his heartbeat even more now that she'd touched him… _there._ It had only been a second, but it had sent his heart beating like crazy in his poor ears. “I was a dumb kid once, too.”

“You still are.” Zelda turns on her heels, walking out of the castle infirmary. Link wishes he could go with her. But instead he's stuck in bed because that trainee accidentally tripped and—

“I'll be back later,” Zelda says. She stops at the door, giving him a wink. Her crown glints gold in the light. And Link is pretty sure that, for the rest of his life, he will always associate gold with Zelda.

He doesn't really have much of a choice.


	2. Discourse

“He said to me, 'Life is misery.'”

“And you believed him?”

The hardwood floor is hard against her head, giving her the beginnings of a mighty headache. The ship is rocking to and fro, making her feel close to being seasick. But really, Tetra wouldn't want to be anywhere else but here, with him.

She wouldn't want to be anywhere.

“Of course I didn't believe him,” she says.

Link laughs. Tetra likes the sound of it—he should do it more often. “If you didn't believe him,” he says, “you wouldn't be telling me he said that at all.”

Tetra thinks about that. It must be true, at least some of it. She rolls over on the floor, so she's face to face with Link. Their bodies would fit perfectly together, like two puzzle pieces. Like two pieces of the Triforce—but Tetra isn't corny, so she puts that thought away.

But Tetra does think about rolling over to him so they are skin to skin, heartbeat to heartbeat. It's usually best to leave Link squirming and restless—that usually leads to the most enjoyable evenings on the ship.

“Life is misery,” Link repeats, his lips forming the words slowly and carefully. It must be the smell of the sea—the crisp night air—that makes Link's lips seem so beautiful. “That can't be true. My life hasn't been misery.”

“I said the same thing.” Tetra squirms even closer. Link's eyes seem even more blue in the light cast by the lanterns. “But then Ganon laughed at me. He said I would figure out why love was misery soon enough.”

“Life,” Link gently corrects. “He said life was misery, not love.”

“But life and love are the same thing.” Tetra realizes it's hard to breathe, suddenly, being this close. She wants to kiss him again, like they did the other night. But nothing has been established—they haven't even talked about it—so she doesn't know if it would be alright.

Link makes the decision for her. “Can I kiss you?” he asks.

Tetra nods. And suddenly they're skin to skin, heartbeat to heartbeat, and Tetra can feel the distant heat of the lanterns even though she knows it's impossible.

Link's lips are chapped and his hands are rough. Tetra's pretty sure that hers are the same. Maybe even worse.

But she likes it. She likes that they're equals, that Link will never ask her to be anything but what she is.

She loves that.

So when Link finally pulls away, his touch leaving her skin, Tetra instantly wishes for more.

“Our love will never be misery,” Link promises. And maybe because it's him—the hero—she believes him so easily. “Our life together will never be misery, either. We'll prove Ganon wrong.”

Tetra smiles. “We don't have anything to prove that we haven't already. We've already found something that Ganon never has—happiness.”

“I love you, Tetra,” Link says. “I think I always have, in every life I've lived.”


	3. Breath of the Wild

It didn't happen until later, while Link was sitting hunched near his makeshift fire and thinking deeply about things he didn't understand, that he realized he didn't care about this world.

Well—he did _care_ about it. Of course he did. How could he not care about a world so beautiful, so ridiculously colorful and bright? But he didn't know this world, and he didn't know why he was supposed to save it, so why should he care?

It didn't seem fair.

Because he must have had a life once. People don't just grow up overnight (do they?) and people surely don't just go into long hibernations for no particular reason. He must have had a life once, before he woke up in this strange world, before he ended up away from everything and everyone he had ever known.

Sullenly, Link curled up in his blanket, hoping nothing would attack him tonight. He just wanted to catch some sleep before exploring more in the morning…

He just wanted to sleep. But in his dreams, he always remembered _her._

There were some things Link was sure he remembered, and there were other things he obviously couldn't—or didn't—or _want_ to remember, too, but he was positive he could remember her.

Love was a feeling that should have been unfamiliar to him, but it wasn't. It was as familiar to him as the feeling of being alone. It was all so clear to him—the remembering of her was so clear—that he couldn't understand why she would leave him all alone, whether it be on purpose or not.

He missed her.

And in those dreams, he could see other reflections of her. Reflections of the two of them—a boy in a green tunic and a girl who always took that boy by the hand and led the way. A strong girl. A princess. A beacon of light to her people, and a beacon of light to him. Always to him.

He wanted her back. Dreams and visions weren't enough. Snatches of memory and ghosts of lost times weren't enough because those dreams loved to fade, until the only thing he truly remembered was the fact of her existence. Maybe she wasn't even real, just some invention of his mind.

Maybe.

But in those dreams, Link would oftentimes begin to think that he might be doing all of this for her, for her people. Maybe for his past self, the person he no longer was, all of the different people he would never be again. He must care about this world for the sake of the past, for all of those different reflections, shimmering in the back of his mind.

He must.

Link opened his eyes to the bright light of morning, the ashes beside him smoldering. Today would be another day of exploring, and today would be another day of learning how to care about this world. It wasn't that hard, especially with the sky above him so blue.


	4. Hazardous

There was a boy standing there. Zelda knew he was only a boy, even though his eyes spoke of someone much older. He seemed to transcend her; to know something she didn't, to know a life she could never understand.

But at the same time, she felt like there had been a boy standing there before. Maybe in one of her dreams—she seemed to have a lot of those lately, each vivid and intense in eerily similar ways.

The boy stepped forward, and Zelda's spark of laughter died on her lips.

“My name is Link,” he said. His green tunic looked all wrong on him, and when he moved, his body seemed to hold back. Maybe he really _was_ unused to it. Maybe he was a fairy boy—she had heard tales of fairy boys and girls before.

“I have come from a future Hyrule,” he said without ceremony. He held up his hand. A yellow triangle was burned into his skin, glowing strangely in the early sun. Without thinking, Zelda held up her own, and their hands touched.

For some reason, she thought there would be a triangle on her hand to match. It was a strange feeling.

Link smiled. It was almost wistful, his eyes closing for a moment, and then he said: “You have been having bad dreams, haven't you?”

Zelda nodded. She let her hand fall down to her side, then turned away from him. Courteously, Link took a step back.

“There is a bad man inside the castle,” Link said. “His name is Ganondorf, and he wishes to bring Hyrule ruin.” He paused. “Do you believe me?”

Zelda shook her head. “I don't know if I do. How can I trust you?”

“I don't want you to trust me. I just want you to believe me.” He knelt before her. “I know believing a stranger is dangerous—”

“You're not a stranger,” Zelda interrupted. “I've known you before. I don't know how, but I do.” She clasped her hands. “I've been having dreams of a great evil. If you are from the future, do you know if Ganondorf succeeds? Is it too late for Hyrule?”

Slowly, Link got back up to his feet. “Yes. In the future, there is great sorrow. But it is not too late for it all to be prevented.”

“Who sent you here?”

“You did.” Link smiled, and some of his youthfulness seemed to come back to him. She felt herself smile, too.

 _“I_ did?”

Link nodded.

“Then…” Zelda hesitated. “Did you want to leave the future? Did I give you a choice?”

“I'd rather not tell you. It's all very complicated; I don't even understand all of it.” As he said those words, Ganondorf walked past the window. Link startled, jumping away.

That was all the proof she needed. “I will speak to my attendant.” She breezed past him, sighing when he didn't immediately follow. “Come along, future boy. There is still a lot for us to catch up on.”


End file.
